The Toupee Artist/Тупейный художник

The serf theatre troupe of Count Sergei Kamenskii (1771-1834) was one of the most famous of its kind in the Russian Empire. The Count, however, treated his artists much like trained animals. For any failure to memorise lines or blocking, an actor could be flogged backstage by Count Kamenskii and his henchmen, such that the audience would hear.
The story is one of forbidden love between two of the Count’s serfs: hairdresser and makeup artist Arkadii Ilich, and actress Liubov. Their escape attempt and eventual capture. Arkadii’s punishment and pressing into army service. Liubov’s madness. Arkadii’s return as a free man, and sudden death at the hands of a street sweeper. The old serf theatre in ruins. Liubov’s enduring love, and her drunkenness, in order to forget.
As Liubov tells this story beside Arkadii’s grave, we see the shades of the past come to life before us.

Directed by Vyacheslav Komarnitsky (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Translated by Charlotte Day
Performed by Yanina Hope, Nastassia Maltsava, Irina Thompson, Ty Turley

Tickets $15 online, $20 on the door, children under 12 go free.